Shaker al-Abssi

Shaker al-Abssi (1955-10 December 2008) was the founder and leader of the Fatah al-Islam jihadist movement from 2006 until his death in 2008.

Biography
Shaker al-Abssi was born in Jericho, West Bank, Palestine in 1955 and was once a pilot with the rank of Colonel. In 1983 he established ties with Fatah al-Intifada in Libya and met Fatah al-Intifada member Abu Khaled al-Omla in Damascus, Syria. In 2000 he was arrested for smuggling ammunition and weapons between Jordan and Syria, and he fought in the Iraq War alongside al-Qaeda after he was released. After the killing of United States diplomat Laurence Foley in Jordan, Jordan sentenced al-Abssi to death in absentia. He lived in Syria, and with al-Omla's help, he avoided the Syrian Arab Army. In 2006 he left Fatah al-Intifada and founded Fatah al-Islam, a group in Palestine. In 2008, he was killed in the small town of Jermana to the south of Damascus by the Syrian army after many false reports of his death.